The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) has announced that the Carry On Fort Lytton educational program is to be entertaining younger school students over the Easter Holiday.
Heritage-listed Fort Lytton was used for the defence of Brisbane until the end of World War II.
Built in 1881 on the banks of the Brisbane River at Lytton, it is a pentagonal fortress concealed behind grassy embankments.
The program Carry On Fort Lytton celebrates much of what the fort was designed for, albeit in 1944.
Ranger in charge, Daley Donnelly said the program was a dramatic scenario done as a re-enactment, especially suited for children aged between six and 12.
“It’s 1944 and new recruits have arrived at Fort Lytton, but there seems to be a bit of a mix up, because there are both boys and girls arriving,” Mr Donnelly said.
“Sergeant Wilson is flummoxed, but Corporal Jones of the Australian Women’s Army Service has a plan to get them through their inspection at the end of the first day.”
He said that while the program was all in fun, it was based on real history.
“Carry On Fort Lytton is a way of bringing the history of those years into the 21st century, for a generation whose great-grandparents would have been their own age, or younger, during that turbulent time,” Mr Donnelly said.
“It is a go-back-in-time, hands-on activity-based experience for school-aged children, using drama to engage them in real learning and great fun.”
The fort and its surrounds became a national park in 1989, protecting this important link with Queensland’s and Australia’s military past.
